Journal Vol.4

2018 - 2019

Wow… what a year 2018 was and what a great start to 2019 spending a week in Chamonix to relax, reset and just spend time in the mountains.

I wrote this journal from the kitchen table of the chalet I was staying at in Chamonix with a view of les Drus from the window, it was the perfect place to think about the year that’s just passed and to look towards my aims for 2019.

Got a bed here for €20 Euro a night and I still think that’s expensive, maybe I’m to use to free accommodation from living in my camper van.

Looking back at 2018

Every year I have the tendency as do many of us to look back at the year and say that this has been the best year ever.

It could be because we travelled to our dream destination, landed a new job or reached a goal that we’ve set ourselves. It’s true that 2018 definitely has been an amazing year. But it has been different.

2018 has been a year of self discovery, reflection, action and mistakes, actually make that plenty of mistakes.

Working as a freelance creative it is all too easy to fall into a trap of just working project after project without acknowledging how significant of an achievement the project was. In a generation where our competition are working whilst we sleep it can become a rat race and the time for self reflection is lost.

It’s only now when I take the time to really think about 2018 and how many of my personal goals I achieved in that year that I realise just how good of a year it’s been. However, if you’d asked me that 5 months ago i’d have said something like “it’s been great but i’ve got to keep pushing further” When in reality i’ve actually made significant progress in some of my long term goals but i’ve actually only realised this.

For instance one of my biggest goals and is something that will be rolling into 2019 is to shift my creative work eventually entirely to outdoor based clients, whether this be for a surf brand, ski company or expedition assignments. In 2017 my income as a creative was around 60% from corporate work and 40% adventure outdoor work. I actively took steps to turn this around and I can happily say that in 2018 i’ve shifted most of my work to clients based in the outdoor industry, tourism boards etc. It’s been slow but project by project i’ve taken those steps to get there and i’m starting to notice that it’s paid off. Of course i’ve still worked on numerous corporate video projects for non outdoor companies as otherwise I wouldn’t be able to afford my lifestyle but eventually I hope I can transition away from these.

What do I think 2018 was really about? What’s next?

2018 for me was really about trying to identify the bigger picture of my work and what direction I want to take it. I spent a lot of last year working project after project and not setting aside the time to really pin point where I am and where I’m looking to go.

In the later half of last year I started taking the time to think about what really makes me feel most alive and worked back from there to start thinking of what I’m going to focus on in 2019.

A few simple ideas kept coming up

Do the things I love with the people I love (Gnarly adventures, expeditions, personal trips)

2019 what are my aims?

Personal / Physical Fitness

I want to feel good when i’m working hard in the mountains, long days on the trail or more technical ascents so that I can start to push my own limits but also bring in my skills as a creative into those environments. Therefore 2019 is going to be about taking training seriously.

Running & Endurance goals

Create a running training programme and stick to it. I want to feel like a 10km run is comfortable and then start moving onto longer runs again 20km+

Get hold of a road bike (I smashed this aim 2 days ago, as I just bought a road bike for training) and start spending long days in the saddle. Long days in the saddle mean for stronger days in the mountains. Can’t wait till my bike arrives and I can start riding.